Large, industrial size trash containers are typically encountered around parking lots in apartment areas, shopping centers, motels, restaurants, and stores. These containers are usually open and as they become filled, trash spills out causing an unsightly appearance. These containers present not only safety hazards but sanitary hazards as well. To compound the problem even further, when a filled container is picked up by a forklift truck and dumped the uncompacted trash tends to be spilled and scattered about the area.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a trash compactor which is closed and which provides a compacted mass to be dumped thereby reducing the likelihood of spillage, in addition to increasing the volume of loose trash it will contain.
In prior art compactors complex compacting mechanisms are often found utilizing multi-action ram movements and pivoting actions leading to eventual maintenance problems and less compaction. As an example of such a compactor, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,165 issued on Nov. 25, 1980 to Gordon H. Fenner et al.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a compactor which has a minimum of moving parts and operates on simple reciprocal vertical motion.
In some vertical compactors, the problem of "walking" is encountered where the force of the trash against the side walls as it is being compacted tends to make the container or bin move horizontally. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,767 issued July 19, 1983 to James H. Dutfield, a sloped floor in the frame which holds the compactor is provided so that the container itself is at an angle while the trash is compacted. However, the ram is shaped so that it will provide horizontal force in at least two directions so that there might still be a tendency for the container to move horizontally.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a trash compactor with a ram which will impart horizontal force in only one direction which can be readily restrained.
Other prior art patents of interest related to compactors are U.S. Pat. No. 1,234,900 issued on July 31, 1917 J. H. Hipschen; U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,925 issued on July 22, 1971 to Harold K. Fox; U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,140 issued on Dec. 7, 1971 to Richard G. Glanz; U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,064 issued on Aug. 29, 1972 to Richard G. Glanz; U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,631 which issued on Jan. 20, 1970 to H. E. Smith; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,139 which issued on Mar. 13, 1969 to Samuel V. Bowles.
The objects stated above and many other advantages are achieved by the trash compactor of this invention which is described in the summary of the invention set forth below.